1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display, and more particularly to a display mounted on an exercise device without any bolts and screws and having a scarf joint and a positioning stub to orient the display on the exercise device.
2. Description of Related Art
People should do a physical activity such as walking or running to stay healthy and make the body stronger. In modern society, people in cities are always busy in business and at work. Therefore, many people in cities spend time in gyms and health clubs to exercise. There are many types of exercising devices such as stationary bicycles, treadmills, or cross-country trainers in gyms and health clubs, and many of them have a display to show the speed, the settings, time, etc.
With reference to FIG. 4, a display is often mounted on a base plate (41) welded to a support (40) of an exercise device. Four threaded screw holes (42) are formed in the base plate (41). A seat (50) with four holes (51) corresponding to the threaded screw holes (42) is attached to the base plate (41) with four screws (52) placed through the holes (51) and screwed into the threaded screw holes (42). A lip (53) is formed around the seat (50), and two slots (54) are defined in the lip (53) facing each other.
The display further comprises a housing (55) with a top surface (56) and a sidewall (57) around the top surface (56). A display panel (561) and at least one pushbutton (562) are defined on the top surface (56), and two ribs (58) corresponding to the slots (54) are defined on the sidewall (57). The sidewall (57) of the housing (55) corresponds to lip (53) of the seat (50) so that the sidewall (57) of the housing (55) can just fit into the lip (53) of the seat (50). The ribs (58) engage the corresponding slots (54) so that the display housing (55) is held in the seat (50).
However, the structure of the conventional display instrument mounted on the exercise device is inconvenient for a number of reasons. First the base plate (41) must be shaped to accommodate both the display and the support (40) and it must be welded onto the support (40). At some point, holes must be bored in the base plate (41) and tapped to accommodate the screws (52) used to fasten the seat (50) to the base plate (41). The foregoing actions cause some shortcomings that include:
increase in time to fabricate parts and
Every part of the display must be designed and fabricated in a specific designed shape. This will increase the time to manufacture the parts.
increase in complexity of assembly.
Due to the numerous parts, the structure of which is complex, a worker must spend more time manually assemble the parts. For example, a worker has to weld the base plate (41) to the support (40) and screw the seat (50) to the base plate (41).
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides an improved display for exercise devices to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.
The main objective of the invention is to provide an improved display for exercise devices. The display comprises a cylindrical housing with an inner space and two open ends. The housing consists of a rear half shell and a front half shell. Both half shells have an inside surface and an outside surface, and two fasteners are defined respectively on the inside surface of both half shells to fasten the half shells together to form the housing. A positioning stub is formed on the inside surface of the rear half shell. A window and at least a pushbutton are formed on a flat surface defined on the outside surface of the front shell. A printed circuit board (PCB) with a liquid crystal display (LCD) display panel is attached to the inside surface of the front half shell so the display panel can be viewed through the window in the flat surface.
A support rod with a positioning hole adapted to hold the positioning stub and the half shells are mounted around the support rod. The support rod extends out from the open ends of the housing. The positioning stub is mounted in the positioning hole to prevent the housing from rotating around the support rod.
Thus, assembling the half shells to form the housing and attaching the display to an exercise device without welding, boring or screwing is easy.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.